Human Resource Management Report: M&S, IT Systems, and Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the impact of Information Technology (IT) on Human Resource Management (HRM) practices, specifically focusing on recruitment, retention, and employee engagement within Marks & Spencer (M&S). The introduction outlines the role of HR and the application of IT in HRM, emphasizing the use of software like PeopleSoft Interaction Hub at M&S. The main body of the report details the recruitment strategies employed by M&S, including internal, external, and online methods, and highlights the role of IT in each. It also examines the company's strategies for recruitment and retention, such as targeted recruitment and partnerships with educational institutions. Furthermore, the report explores strategies to improve employee engagement, including trust-building, employee autonomy, recognition programs, learning and development initiatives, and transparent work environments. It also discusses how IT systems facilitate these strategies through collaboration tools and peer-to-peer recognition. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, reiterating the significance of IT in modern HRM and its influence on recruitment and employee engagement at Marks & Spencer.

HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Impact of IT system on recruitment and retention in the chosen organisation......................3
Strategies to improve employee engagement in the chosen organisation and role of
information systems in facilitating such strategies.................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
The process of selecting, recruiting and hiring the individuals and managing them. It is
also known as HR. for overseeing the policies governing by the workers and maintaining the
relationship between the company and its employees, the HR department of any company is only
responsible. The role of IT in management is to aid the human activities by using hardwares and
softwares. Another role for using IT in HRM is to select and hire the employees for different
tasks like managing paperwork, interviews etc. companies either use their own softwares created
by them or use an external software package. In relation to marks and Spencer, which was
founded in 1884 by Michael marks and Thomas Spencer. It is a British multinational retailer,
which specialises in selling beauty, home, food as well as clothing products and they serve
worldwide. The companies use various kinds of HR software nowadays like Monday.com,
sapling and many more. The HR software which the chosen company uses is the PeopleSoft
Interaction Hub (Szydlowska, 2020). The following report is going to cover up the impact of IT
systems on recruitment and the strategies to improve the employee engagement
(Podgorodnichenko, Edgar and McAndrew 2020).
MAIN BODY
Impact of IT system on recruitment and retention in the chosen organisation
The process of recruitment in marks and Spencer is done in various methods like:
 internal recruitment – it is done by an announcement, by giving a notice which is
placed on the staff's notice board, newsletters, promotions and more. They also use their
IT systems to inform the employees about any certain thing or reaching out to the new
people.
 External recruitment - For the external recruitment or making people aware about the
job vacancies, the chosen company uses the local newspaper of UK, print ads as a
medium and for the higher recruitments like for managing and more above positions, they
use a named newspaper like the times etc.
 online recruitment – marks and Spencer have an amazing online recruiting system.
They have their own designed website which have different career options available on
the site. The appliers can select any job according to themselves in which they have

interest in and have the abilities to fulfil the job requirements. After that they have to fill
up a form and enter their details to register themselves and create a resume to apply for
the job. For applying for a certain specific position, an online test is conducted which
have about 40 to 70 questions in it (Richards and Templin, 2019).
The recruitment strategies are the vital part of marks and Spencer's HRM strategy. They
try to hire the young generation with new ideas and talent. The chosen company mainly uses
three strategies for recruitment and retention.
 Targeted recruitment - this recruitment is basically done for the specific higher
positions and they offer the job vacancy to the individuals who have an achievements and
competencies related to the job requirement. That means an employee should have a
record of accomplishments in the previous company he worked to the enhance the
success and profitability of marks and Spencer.
 partnerships with schools and universities – to gather and attract the new generations
youngsters, they have bind up with the colleges, schools and universities. In which they
offer the various internships, placements and postgraduate employment tot the young
workers. Hiring the students and who have already done their graduations helps them in
attracting the fresh and new talent with a great knowledge of academics. They also offer
them an opportunity for personal and professional growth and development.
advertising online as well as in stores – advertising on website as well as in the stores is a
useful strategy of recruitment as it draws the attention of the applicants who are already
interested in marks and Spencer and in their products (West and et. Al, 2019).
Marks and Spencer use technology for the recruitment and selection process and IT has
become very useful for them in terms of this. Some of the uses of IT systems in recruiting the
employees are:
 The computers and the software are used in creating a good and fascinating
advertisement to attract more and more applicants.
 The internet is used in advertising about the job vacancy available in the chosen
company.
 The job appliers can fill up the form digitally on the given platform.
 IT systems are also used in storing the confidential information regarding the candidate
or the company.

 Internet is also used in conducting online meetings, video conferencing, interviews, and
many more things through laptop, smartphones or any other digital device.
 For the selection process, they use the internet to take the online tests.
Information technology have increased the efficiency, effectiveness and the productivity
of the firm through the more effective methods of recruitment, better communication process in
organisations, more involvement of employees, and more skilled HR managers. Every business
should have their eHR to interconnect the people with the strategies of business and to adapt the
changes in the business and people. Also, it helps in building up the programs to develop their
human capital (al Habibi, 2019).
Strategies to improve employee engagement in the chosen organisation and role of
information systems in facilitating such strategies
The strategies and techniques used in marks and Spencer to develop and engage their
employees are:
 trust – the engagement of employee is built on trust. It is the huge part for employees to
feel encouraged, valued and engaged in the company. In M&S the employee's trust is
build, their productivity is increased as well as they have the positive working
atmosphere.
 Give autonomy to your people – in the chosen company, the employees have the
autonomy and also, they are empowered, which makes them feel more satisfied with their
job and it also make them more responsible towards their work.
 Employee recognition – in every company, employees wanted to be heard and
recognized by their bosses. M&S prioritize their employee’s ideas and thoughts, they
feel that they are heard and recognised.
 Employee's learning and development – M&S understands their employees, they have
taken the initiative to invest in their employee's learning and personal development rather
than replacing them with the other new entrants.
 Transparent work environment – any organisation wants their employees to fully
invest themselves into the company. For that there should be good relation, trust as well
as transparency of work between the company and their employees and M&S have
maintained all of that.

Positive feedbacks – most of the time, managers only give feedbacks to the employees when
there is an issue in the work. Apart from issues, managers should also give feedbacks when the
work is appraisable so that the employees get encouraged (Cattermole, 2018).
the IT systems used in marks and spencer for employee’s engagement and development
has been effectful somewhere like:
 Collaboration - Collaboration is one of the most important ways for communication in
the workplace. M&S used collaboration tools for project analysis, task management, and
general cooperation which have helped them in improving the employee communication
and teamwork.
 Peer to peer recognition – To increase employee engagement, smart companies have
started using peer-to-peer recognition. Most of the workers in the organisations are
dissatisfied with their jobs because they believe they are not being recognised for the
work they have done or what they can achieve.
Social media engagement - Social engagement through technology may lead to the
development of ties between employers and their employees. The chosen company’s employees
are active on social media and there is a good possibility that the company's brand and image
will expand much (Szydlowska, 2020).
The usage of information technology requires employees swiftly adapting to the
technology, which has a variety of repercussions on employees. Some employees will see them
as opportunities and will be more likely to use them as active working tools to boost their
productivity and job satisfaction. However, some people require additional time in the job to
adjust to and handle these changes. There are many impacts that have impacted the performance
of employees of M&S like, it allows consumers to get access to data and information, internet
technology has spawned new activities and services as well as new job prospects for trained
employees, Internet usage has a time-saving benefit, helping employees to complete time-
consuming and repetitive jobs more quickly than before and more (Bridger, 2022).
CONCLUSION
In light of this information this respective report concludes that the process of selecting,
recruiting and hiring the individuals for fulfilling the organizational goal and managing them is
basically HRM. In HRM, IT is used for managing paper work, interviews and for many other

tasks. The chosen company marks and Spencer uses the PeopleSoft interaction hub as their HR
software. The recruitment of employees is done internally, externally and digitally. There are
many strategies used in recruiting the employees such as targeted recruitment, partnership with
schools and universities, advertising online as well as in stores. To improve the employee
engagement in marks and Spencer there should be trust, autonomy, recognition, employees
learning and development, transparency and positive feedbacks.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Podgorodnichenko, N., Edgar, F. and McAndrew, I., 2020. The role of HRM in developing
sustainable organizations: Contemporary challenges and contradictions. Human Resource
Management Review, 30(3), p.100685.
Szydlowska, K., 2020. The future business strategy of Marks and Spencer. GRIN Verlag.
al Habibi, B., 2019. HR practices of Marks & Spencer, Selfridges, Primark, and
Sainsbury’s (Doctoral dissertation, University of Science & Technology).
Richards, K.A.R. and Templin, T.J., 2019. Recruitment and retention in PETE: Foundations in
occupational socialization theory. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 38(1), pp.14-21.
West, C., Ricks, J., Strachan, C., Iacono, J. and Shay, C., 2019. Factors that Influence
Recruitment and Retention.
Cattermole, G., 2018. Creating an employee engagement strategy for millennials. Strategic HR
Review.
Szydlowska, K., 2020. The future business strategy of Marks and Spencer. GRIN Verlag
.Bridger, E., 2022. Employee engagement: A practical introduction (Vol. 24). Kogan Page
Publishers.